County Councilor Randall Ryti and Council Chair Sara Scott host a town hall meeting March 12 at the Municipal Building. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com

What would the public like to see the Los Alamos County Council address? This question was posed during a town hall meeting March 12 at the Municipal Building and the answers ranged from vacant commercial space and housing to open space, recreation and social services.

Former County Councilor Morris Pongratz urged the new County Council to strive to create a community that would attract and retain laboratory employees.

“What do we owe NNSA Triad? I think we owe them a very attractive city to live in,” Pongratz said. “They need good people so I think we need to make this place attractive. One thing I think you can do pretty quickly … I’d like to see you cut back on property taxes.” 

Pongratz explained in reducing property taxes, he meant the County’s portion and not reducing revenue Los Alamos Public Schools receives from property taxes.

Parks and Rec Board Chair Stephanie Nakhleh said the County should invest in its recreation.

“This town owes its kids some better recreation … open space benefits everyone,” she said.

Community Development Advisory Board member Aaron Walker said he felt the biggest issue was housing as well as making commercial spaces affordable to all businesses, not just the laboratory. He suggested possibly implementing penalties on vacant buildings.

He added that he felt communication and transparency were important.

“This is a great step in the right direction,” he said of the town hall meeting.

Council Chair Sara Scott and Councilor Randall Ryti hosted the town hall meeting. They also held a town hall meeting March 9 in White Rock. Scott said that town hall meetings hosted by other councilors may be held in the future.

Scott said the Council had identified its strategic leadership priorities in a previous meeting and wants to hear from the public about which areas of the priorities should be addressed first as well as creative ideas for making progress.

“We really want to make it clear that these priorities are not the only things we want to do in Los Alamos County … the idea of these town halls … we want to hear from the community,” she said.

Ryti added that the community has offered input through the County’s open forum on its website.

 “We are getting a good perspective,” Ryti said.